IAB UK statement on the latest reports about fake news

Fake news represents a challenge to our industry; it is bad for the democratic networks that we and our members hold dear. It is critical that people have access to quality information from trusted sources. Honest, critical and questioning journalism is a fundamental requirement of the open structure of our educated and democratic society. 
 
Digital advertising has been a key driver of innovation and creativity, supporting media pluralism at an unprecedented scale. This innovation must continue and that includes funding quality journalism. For this reason, we need to channel our efforts to ensure that trust in our media is not undermined by the proliferation of fabricated stories, but rather raised by the quality of news and information that people access online.
 
Transparency is key to this process. For the advertising ecosystem, that means continuing to support the strong mechanisms that are in place for responsible advertisers to make and give effect to ethical decisions about where their advertising is bought and delivered, such as the Digital Trading Standards Group (DTSG). It is important that robust ways of identifying fake news are developed and we stand ready to contribute to and inform those discussions.